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WEST DES MOINES, Iowa — The No. 4 Park University men’s volleyball team opened pool play (in Pool D) at the NAIA Men’s Volleyball National Championship this afternoon (Tuesday, April 11) at the MidAmerican Energy Company RecPlex in West Des Moines, Iowa. The Pirates defeated No. 12 Webber International University (Fla.), 3-0 (25-20, 25-18, 25-14).

Park is now 26-1 on the season while WIU moves to 11-6. Park’s only loss on the season was to conference rival Missouri Baptist University on March 18, snapping a 22-match winning streak.

The Pirates, the only school from Missouri or Kansas to advance to the national tournament, not to mention the only school among the top six seeds from outside of California or Arizona, will have an off day tomorrow (Wednesday, April 12). Park will conclude pool play on Thursday (April 13) against Ottawa University (Ariz., 13-8) at 4 p.m. OUAZ, a sister campus of Ottawa (Kan.) University, had its pool play off-day today. In last year’s national tournament, the Pirates (as the No. 7 seed) upset the Spirit (as the No. 2 seed) in pool play to advance to the national semifinals.

Should Park defeat Ottawa on Thursday, the Pirates will advance to the national semifinals on Friday (April 14) at 7:30 p.m. against the winner of Pool A — among No. 1 — Benedictine University – Mesa (Ariz.), 24-3; No. 8 — Georgetown (Ky.) College, 21-6; or No. 9 — St. Xavier University (Ill.), 22-4. The national championship match is set for Saturday (April 15) at 5 p.m. on ESPN3.

The Pirates are seeking the sixth men’s volleyball national title in Park’s history (2003, 2008, 2012, 2014 and 2017) after having lost in the national semifinals the past two years.

Park’s Mike Talamantes, in his 12th season as director of volleyball and men’s/women’s volleyball head coach, has a 268-66 (80.2%) record leading the Pirates’ men’s squad. In addition, Talamantes has 399-71 (84.9%) record as Park’s women’s head coach. His overall record at Park is 667-137 (83.0%). Under his helm, Park’s men have won three national titles (2012, 2014 and 2017), while the women’s team has won two (2014 and 2018).

Against Webber International today, in the first set, Park hit an outstanding .500, putting down 17 kills with just three hitting errors, while holding WIU to .200. Park scored the first three points of the set and never looked back. Webber closed the gap to 5-4, but the Pirates scored 12 of the next 17 points to swell its lead to 17-9. The Warriors got to within four at 19-15 before Park closed out the set.

In set two, Park didn’t hit as well as the first set, putting down 13 kills for a .261 percentage, but held Webber to .000 as the Warriors had eight errors to go along with its eight kills. Webber had an 8-7 early lead, but Park scored eight of the next 10 points to take a 15-10 advantage before a WIU timeout. The Pirates built their lead to as many as eight points down the stretch before ending the set.

In set three, Park held an 11-10 lead before scoring 10 of the next 14 points for a 21-14 advantage. The Pirates closed out the match by scoring the final four points. Park hit .300 in the set while WIU hit .033 with eight hitting errors and just seven kills.

For the match, the Pirates hit .337, putting down 43 kills and just 13 attack errors, while the Warriors were halted, hitting .045 with 25 kills and 21 attack errors. Joao Friedrich led Park with 15 kills, hitting .583 for the match. Samuel Essilfie added 10 kills and Eduardo Faquin dished out 29 assists.

Here are the seeds/records of the teams in the tournament and results of matches from Tuesday:

POOL A

• No. 1 — Benedictine University – Mesa (Ariz.), 24-3, vs. No. 9 St. Xavier University (Ill.), late
• No. 8 — Georgetown (Ky.) College, 21-6, off
• No. 9 — St. Xavier University (Ill.), 22-4, vs. No. 1 Benedictine University – Mesa (Ariz.), late

POOL B

• No. 2 — Vanguard University (Calif.), 17-5, defeated No. 10 University of Jamestown (N.D.), 3-0
• No. 7 — Grand View University (Iowa), 19-8, off
• No. 10 — University of Jamestown (N.D.), 21-4, lost to No. 2 Vanguard University (Calif.), 3-0

POOL C

• No. 3 — The Master’s University (Calif.), 18-4, defeated No. 11 Indiana Institute of Technology, 3-2
• No. 6 — Menlo College (Calif.), 15-7, off
• No. 11 — Indiana Institute of Technology (aka Indiana Tech), 19-9, lost to No. 3 The Master’s University (Calif.), 3-2

POOL D

• No. 4 — Park University, 26-1, defeated No. 12 Webber International University (Fla.), 3-0
• No. 5 — Ottawa University (Ariz.), 13-8, off
• No. 12 — Webber International University (Fla.), 11-6, lost to No. 4 Park University, 3-0

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